Social Injustice and Public Health

Edited by Barry S. Levy and Edited by Victor W. Sidel

A valuable resource for public health workers and their agencies and organizations

Social Injustice and Public Health

Second Edition

Edited by Barry S. Levy and Edited by Victor W. Sidel

Description

This second edition of Social Injustice and Public Health is a comprehensive, up-to-date, evidence-based resource on the relationship of social injustice to many aspects of public health. With contributions from leading experts in public health, medicine, health, social sciences, and other fields, this integrated book documents the adverse effects of social injustice on health and makes recommendations on what needs to be done to reduce social injustice and thereby improve the public's health.

Social Injustice and Public Health is divided into four parts:

· The nature of social injustice and its impact on public health· How the health of specific population groups is affected by social injustice· How social injustice adversely affects medical care, infectious and chronic non-communicable disease, nutrition, mental health, violence, environmental and occupational health, oral health, and aspects of international health· What needs to be done, such as addressing social injustice in a human rights context, promoting social justice through public health policies and programs, strengthening communities, and promoting equitable and sustainable human development

With 78 contributors who are experts in their respective subject areas, this textbook is ideal for students and practitioners in public health, medicine, nursing, and other health sciences. It is the definitive resource for anyone seeking to better understand the social determinants of health and how to address them to reduce social injustice and improve the public's health.

Social Injustice and Public Health

Second Edition

Edited by Barry S. Levy and Edited by Victor W. Sidel

Table of Contents

Foreword William H. FoegePart I: Introduction

Chapter 1: The Nature of Social Injustice and Its Impact on Public Health Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel Box 1-1: Concepts of Social Justice Box 1-2: Science and Social Justice Omar Khan and David MKI Liu Appendix to Chapter 1: Universal Declaration of Human RightsPart II: How the Health of Specific Population Groups Is Affected by Social Injustice

Haejoo Chung, PhDAssistant Professor in Health PolicyHealthcare ManagementKorea University College of Health SciencesSeoulKorea

Sarah DeGue, PhDBehavioral ScientistDivision of Violence Prevention National Center for Injury Prevention and ControlCenters for Disease Control and PreventionAtlanta, GA

Ernest Drucker, PhD John Jay College of Criminal Justice Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University New York, NY

Cheryl E. Easley, PhD, RNTwin Solutions LLCHarvest, AL

William W. EatonHarold and Sylvia Halpert Professor and ChairDepartment of Mental HealthJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthBaltimore, MD

Carroll L. Estes, PhD Professor Emerita Department of Social and Behavioral SciencesFounder and Former Director Institute for Health & AgingUniversity of California, San FranciscoSchool of NursingSan Francisco, CA

Sofia Gruskin, JD, MIAProfessor of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of MedicineProfessor of Law and Preventive Medicine, Gould School of LawDirector, Program on Global Health and Human RightsInstitute for Global HealthUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos Angeles, CA

John W. Hatch, PhDEmeritus ProfessorDepartment of Health BehaviorUniversity of North CarolinaChapel Hill, NC

David U. Himmelstein, MD Professor of Public HealthCUNY School of Urban PublicNew York, NY

Andrea Kidd Taylor, DrPH, MSPHLecturerHealth Policy and Management DepartmentMorgan State University School of Community Health & PolicyBaltimore, MD

Nancy Krieger, PhDProfessor Department of Society, Human Development and HealthHarvard School of Public HealthBoston, MA

Linda Young Landesman, DrPH, MSWLandesman ConsultingRye Brook, NY

Robert S. Lawrence, MDProfessor in Environmental Health SciencesProfessor of Environmental Health Sciences, Health Policy, and International HealthCenter for a Livable Future Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthBaltimore, MD

Barry S. Levy, MD, MPHAdjunct Professor of Public HealthDepartment of Public Health and Community MedicineTufts University School of MedicineSherborn, MA

Social Injustice and Public Health

Edited by Barry S. Levy and Edited by Victor W. Sidel

From Our Blog

Imagine that there is a disease that claims more than 30,000 lives in the United States each year. Imagine that countless more people survive this disease, and that many of them have long-lasting effects. Imagine that there are various methods for preventing the disease, but there are social, political, and other barriers to implementing these preventive measures.

Who is selected to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court will profoundly affect key public health issues, including gun control, access to reproductive health services, and climate change. In recent years, the Court has ruled, usually by 5-to-4 decisions, on these issues and will likely continue to do so by narrow margins.

The four-year drought in California, which is causing severe water shortages and related problems, is receiving increasingly more attention. It is affecting everyone, causing people to adjust their lifestyles and causing small business owners and entire industries to rethink their use'and misuse'of water.

In 1971, William Irvin Thompson, a professor at York University in Toronto, wrote an op-ed in the New York Times entitled, 'We Become What We Hate,' describing the way in which 'thoughts can become inverted when they are reflected in actions.' He cited several scientific, sociocultural, economic, and political situations where the maxim appeared to be true. The physician who believed he was inventing a pill to help women become pregnant had actually invented the oral contraceptive.

By Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel War is hell. War kills people, mainly non-combatant civilians, and injures and maims many more — both physically and psychologically. War destroys the health-supporting infrastructure of society, including systems of medical care and public health services, food and water supply, sanitation and sewage treatment, transportation, communication, and power generation.

By Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel Out of sight. Out of mind. Nine countries, mainly the United States and Russia, possess 17,000 nuclear weapons, many of which are hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki almost 70 years ago.

By Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel 'That song really sticks with you!' The speaker was the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1957, on his way to a speaking engagement in Kentucky. The song was 'We Shall Overcome.' He had heard it the day before from Pete Seeger at the Highlander Center in Tennessee. There Seeger had, a decade before, learned the song ' most likely derived from an old gospel song that became a labor-union song by the early 1900s.

By Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel We live in the richest nation on earth. Yet 15% of the US population (about 46 million people) live below the poverty line — about $23,000 for a family of four. Almost 25% of children live in poverty. The number of American households living on $2 or less grew by 130% between 1996 and 2011.

By Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel Chemical weapons are horrendous agents. Small amounts can kill and severely injure hundreds of noncombatant women, men, and children in a matter of minutes, as apparently occurred recently in Syria. Some analysts consider them 'poor countries' nuclear bombs.'

By Barry S. Levy and Victor W. Sidel Although there has been much progress in the United States toward social justice and improved health for racial and ethnic minorities in the 50 years since the 1963 March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech, much social injustice persists in this country — with profound adverse consequences for the public's health.